"When clients come to me, many of them have been through the diet wringer. They've tried every fad and gimmick and, of course, they've failed to maintain long-term success. The key to losing 10 pounds and weight loss, in general, is to never feel like you're on a diet, because diets don't work. If you feel deprived, you will never make it past a few weeks. The only way to achieve long-term weight loss is to learn to appreciate food as fuel and slowly replaced processed food that cannot properly energize the body with real food that can. After a while this will become second nature and won't feel like a daily struggle." — Laura Burak, MS, RD, CDN

Very few diet plans outlive temporary fads and trends, and WW is definitely one of them. The diet company formerly known as Weight Watchers has kept up with the times by reinventing and rebranding itself as WW, which stands for “Weight Loss & Wellness.” While the company’s diet approach is still based on the Smart Points food-tracking system, it has recently incorporated meditations, audio workouts, food logging, Zero-Point foods, a redesigned app, and online support for a more holistic approach to dieting.

In practice, this means salt is substituted with herbs and spices. There are two models: the Standard Model, which recommends less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, and the Low Sodium Model, which recommends less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day. Studies suggest DASH is also good for preventing osteoporosis, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

The idea is that the fasting induces mild stress to the cells in your body, helping them become better at coping with such stress and possibly helping your body grow stronger. The verdict is still out regarding the diet’s long-term effectiveness with weight loss, according to a review of preliminary animal research published in January 2017 in Behavioral Sciences. (17)